Sussman changes stand on casinos

GOSHEN — Last month Goshen attorney Michael Sussman was attempting to negotiate a deal with a national gaming company interested in a City of Newburgh location.

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By Leonard Sparks

recordonline.com

By Leonard Sparks

Posted May. 31, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Leonard Sparks
Posted May. 31, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

GOSHEN — Last month Goshen attorney Michael Sussman was attempting to negotiate a deal with a national gaming company interested in a City of Newburgh location.

Now he is looking to foment opposition to a casino in Orange County, whose overall wealth he believes makes Sullivan County a better fit for the state's goal of siting gaming facilities in areas where they will have the most economic impact.

His organization, the Democratic Alliance, is holding a meeting June 16 in Goshen to explore ways for casino opponents to communicate their position to state officials.

"This was something that was intended to assist the neighboring counties, which have suffered great economic degradation," Sussman said. "We don't believe Orange County needs a shot in the arm of this sort."

In a county-to-county comparison of socioeconomic statistics, such as median household income and poverty rate, Sullivan's need far exceeds Orange County's.

But Orange County casino contender Hudson Valley Casino & Resort is citing the City of Newburgh's poverty as it pursues a license on Route 17K in the Town of Newburgh.

On Wednesday, Newburgh's City Council approved a revenue-sharing agreement with the casino's developer, Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

A Town of Newburgh casino would deliver $2 million in gaming revenues to the city, property taxes to the school district and jobs to residents, city and Saratoga officials say.

In a letter emailed Friday, Newburgh Mayor Judy Kennedy boasted of the proposed casino's impact on a city where the poverty rate is 27.9 percent.

"This is exactly the kind of regional impact that the casino referendum was designed to accomplish," Kennedy said.

It April, Kennedy accused the Newburgh Community Action Committee, for which Sussman is counsel, of scuttling interest from Penn National Gaming in a possible casino site within the city.

The organization offered to co-develop the site with Penn National in exchange for about $1.5 million a year for 10 years, Sussman said. The money would have funded anti-poverty programs, he said.

Making the proposal was not an outright endorsement of casinos, but reflected a belief that if they were going to be built, some of the money should go toward alleviating poverty, Sussman said.

This current initiative will try to organize a number of disparate groups opposed to casinos in Orange County, he said.

"Most of them feel it's not something intended for our county, it's not something needed in our county and, over time, it's not something that will benefit our county," he said.